Critical Look on Christianity and Its Effects on People

Since birth, people are taught to live a certain way and be a certain someone by those who raise them. Many individuals are born into Christianity, attending church since birth, going to church camps and living the lifestyle of a good Christian, it is a label they carry with them for the rest of their lives. Christianity is a religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus, who was brought down to teach the word of God. His word is said to bring peace and happiness to those who follow it and if followed right, are granted eternal life. Over the past thousands of years, its popularity has skyrocketed, growing to two billion followers, it is considered the largest religion practiced worldwide. Despite some positive outlooks, it has affected the world in a more negative aspect rather than positive, producing a plethora of ignorance and stagnation by Christians who feel comfortable being hateful towards individuals who do not live the doctrine laid out in the bible.

These hateful thoughts can affect those in and out of the religion, from guilting “bad” Christians to murdering those living a sinful life; now that Christianity plays a big role in Politics, the problem only seems to get bigger. The name Christianity is derived from the Bible and was used as a degrading word to describe the followers of Jesus Chrsit, but Christians were fond of it and accepted the name. In order to become a Christian, one must be willing to change their sinful ways of living and when they do so, they are able to convert. The converting process is simple, the individual must get water baptized in a church and accept the Spirit of God within them in order to call themselves a Christian. Once they’ve completed the process, they must live according to certain standards; worship God from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, be compassionate and loving towards others, and follow God's Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments according to Mike Bennett state “You shall have no other Gods but me. You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy. Respect your father and mother. You must not commit murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not give false evidence against your neighbour. You must not be envious of your neighbour's goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour”. Although these commandments may seem easy enough to follow, it is often broken by Christians in simple, but various ways. At times these commandments can be unintentionally broken, but it is more so broken due to the fact that not everyone is perfect. These people cannot possibly achieve all these things asked of them in their whole life spans.

There are temptations that cannot be overlooked and sometimes it can act as a positive benefit to their lives, but is seems as a sin in God’s eyes. Guilt is a horrible feeling people get when they do something wrong for Christians it’s the most common feeling. Christians are supposed to live a certain way according to the standards laid out in the bible and when they fail to do so, it is considered sinning. Sinning can vary from small wrongdoings such as not praying enough and permarital sex to bigger ones such as murder and rape. Although some of these sins deserve much more than God's punishment, they can be easily wiped away with His forgiveness, which is supposed to take the tension off an individual's shoulders; at least in some cases. Often the guilt is the reasons many Christians become ex-christians because they feel as though the set of rules they are set to follow is just a mirror that reflects their wrongdoings onto them. Everyone is affected by Chritstian hate crimes, the LGBT community, people of color, and other religious groups: if you are not a white Christian, then you've been sinning since birth.

In the article, Religion, Religious Fanaticism and Hate Crimes in the United States, Mokhtar Ben Barka compares these religious hate crimes to terrorism. Often these crimes are committed by one individual but occasionally it will be committed by a group, like Aryan Nations, the anti-semetic group of the 1970s. The group was founded by the pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ, Richard Girnt Butler, who had a goal of ridding any race that wasn’t white, God’s “chosen people”. They would target unsuspecting victims and sometimes succeed in accomplishing their goal, but not always. Victoria Keegan, an American Inidain, was walking with her son on the night of July first 1998, when they were attacked by the Aryan Nations. They shot at her car, blowing out her tires.

Quickly they were removed from their car violently and threatened. Victoria and Jason were able to escape after a car began to approach the scene, and the group had fleeted. The Aryan Nation slowly began to become something from the past, many groups still spread their beliefs and refer to themselves as members of the Aryan Nations but no one from the original group is still around. However, not all religous have lost popularity, the Westbro Baptist Church is an anti-gay activist organization formed in 1955 to assault and harrass the LGBT community. Upon their physical violent acts, they also host demonstrations such as riots. One of these riots was formed outside of Matthew W. Shepard's funeral in October of 1998. Shepard was a 21 year old gay male who was tricked into entering a Wyoming bar with two strangers, who would beat him with a pistol and tie him to a fence where they would leave him to die.

This act of crime shocked everyone worldwide, but what was more shocking was the Westbro Baptist Church shouting out anti-gay slurs at the mourning Shepard family, not allowing the funeral to continue in a polite demeanor. They continue to spread their belifes through the website, God Hates Fags, where they discuss bible verses in which they can justify their hateful acts. Although this century seems to be more accepting of the different communities, due to a recent election in 2016, the hate crimes have increased as a result of people feeling more comfortable being hateful with a hateful president in office. Of all the religious people voting in the 2016 election, Christians made up 139% of the population that voted for Donald Trump. Donald Trump, the same man who talked about woman genitals in public settings, the same man who is working to seperate families, was voted most fit to run a country by the people who are taught to love thy neighbor and honor women. Not all Christians felt comfortable calling themselves one knowing they made up most of the population and didn’t want to be a part of such bigotry, like Elizabeth Baker.

In Bakers article in the HuffPost, I Don’t Want To Call Myself A Christian Anymore, she opens up about her experience in realizing the truth of the religion. Baker was the definition of a good Christian; she read the Bible everyday, went to church camps, youth retreats, and was in a Chritsian sorority in college. That all changed the coming election. She no longer felt that her fellow Christians were Christian anymore and she described their role in the election as “horrifying and embarrassing. Christians were now supporting travel bans, turning away the LGBT community, and no longer supporting Medicaid, the most accessible health care to God's “children”. It’s not just the hypocrisy either, it’s the hate that comes with it. Since the election, the crime rate has increased tremendously; it has affected ethnic groups by 59.6%, religious groups by 20.6%, and the LGBT community by 15.8%. During his time in office, he made many promises to the Christian community and kept them, which may be a reason the crime rates have increased.

According to Craig Huey in the article, 10 Surprising Realities About Christians and President Trump, president Trump has promised all Christians to support pro-life and did so by slecting pro-life judges to represent the Supreme Court. He also said he would support Israel and now accepts Jerusalem to be its capital. President Trump wants to keep his Christian supporters and as long as he follows through with his promises, he will continue to gain the support of Christians. Christianity had one sole purpose, to bring God’s children together, but it has done the opposite by putting limits onto people; it has not only separated people, but has cursed the world we live in. It is unfair to those outside of the religion to be judged for living their life not following any of God’s rules, when Christians are out doing the same thing by spreading their hateful beliefs and belittling those not meeting the standards. In conclusion, calling oneself a Christian is hypocrisy in of itself.